Game Of Flo

As the eve of the
great battle loomed, Game of Thrones
fans were gifted a beautifully haunting hymnal of ‘Jenny of Oldstones’, sung by
Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman) in the final season’s second episode “A Knight
of the Seven Kingdoms”. The credits rolled and the song composed by Ramin
Djawadi was re-sungby Florence Welch and can be found accompanied by a moving
video collaging emotional moments from the past 10 years.

The song when sung by
Podrick is stripped bare, his unexpected vocal clarity echoing off the walls of
the fire lit room. However, Florence’s voice transforms the roundabout folk
song into a Celtic ballad, admitting that “Celtic music has always been in my
blood, so I felt like I could do something with it”.

As the episode uses the song to give us one last look at all our best-loved characters before they walk out into no man’s land, the repetitive lyrics “never wanted to leave” show us intimate last moments, like a goodbye kiss between Missandei and Grey Worm. However, the crescendo created by the repetition of “Never wanted to leave” in Florence’s rendition is emotionally amplified as it plays over several scenes for the show’s 8 seasons. We see the familiar crypt of Winterfell as “the halls of the kings who are gone”, and a younger sword clad Arya metaphorically “dancing with her ghosts”. As we see the heart-wrenching scene of Ned’s death as the “ones lost”, contrasted by Bran as the “ones found”, we’re reminded just how far the narrative has come from the days when incest and attempted murder was as shocking as it got – child’s play compared to kool aid undead dragons if you ask me.

The melancholic
passion in Welch’s vocals as she sings “the ones who had loved her the most”
prepares us for a gut punch as the video shows the tear-jerking farewell
between Jon and Ygritte. Whilst Martin’s lyrics are manipulated to call out
Jorah Mormont for being gone “for so very long”, they are also reworked from a
place of nostalgia to a place of malice as it’s shown as not being Jenny who
“can’t remember” the name of lost loved ones, but Arya who doesn’t know the
names of those dead by her hand.

The more hard done by
Stark women Sansa and Catelyn are the image of “Sorrow and pain”, whilst the
most literal parallel drawn is the unforgettable image of the wall as it “did
crumble and fall” in the season 7 finale.

The song is
hauntingly eerie but also full of nostalgia, longing and sorrow – not unlike the
sentiments of Game of Thrones fans
coming to terms with the show’s looming end. Florence’s vocals on the released
version emphasise the folkish lilt the song seems it was intended to be sung
with; however, removing the dramatic piano instrumental accompaniment to
isolate Podrick’s lower tone and slower paced rendition suited the mood of the
scene perfectly. The last few episodes of the show will be coming out this
month but it’s believed Florence was the last featured artists to appear on the
soundtrack, a reminder that although we never wanted the seven kingdoms to
leave us, their watch is almost up.